Daily US Times: Last week, the official portraits of former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were removed from the Grand Foyer of the White House. The portraits are now replaced by those of two Republican presidents who served more than a century ago.
White House tradition calls for the most recent American presidents’ portraits to be given the most prominent placement, in the entrance of the executive mansion, visible to guests during official events.
That was the tradition through at least July 8, when President Donald Trump welcomed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The two leaders stood in the Cross Hall of the White House and made remarks, with the portraits of Bush and Clinton essentially looking on as they had been throughout Trump’s first term.
But in the days after that, the Bush and Clinton portraits were moved into the Old Family Dining Room, a small, rarely used room that is not seen by most visitors.
That places the paintings well outside of president Trump’s vantage point in the White House. The portraits of the two former presidents would have been seen daily as Trump descends the staircase from his third floor private residence or when he hosts events on the state floor of the White House. Now, they hang in a space used mainly for storing unused furniture and tablecloths.
The White House did not officially made any comment on the change.
President Barack Obama’s portrait is not expected to be unveiled for a formal ceremony during Donald Trump’s first term, a sign of the bitter relationship between the 44th and 45th presidents. Trump has accused Obama of unspecified and unsubstantiated crimes, and has questioned whether the former president was born in the US for years.
Trump has — less frequently — similarly disparaged Clinton and Bush. Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton wrote in his book that Trump “despised” both Bush presidents, and people familiar with the conversations say Trump has lambasted George W. Bush as “stupid.”
The current president has similarly castigated Clinton, the husband of his 2016 presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, and suggested he was a bad president.
Trump has not spoken to Clinton and Bush man extensively as president, though he did greet them both in person during the funeral of George H.W. Bush in December 2018.
The Clinton portrait has been replaced by one of Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded McKinley and the Bush portrait has been replaced by that of William McKinley, the nation’s 25th president, who was assassinated in 1901.
Three people who have seen the portraits this week confirmed this to CNN.
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